Elektra
by Gingersnap630
Summary: It was midnight. They stood in the middle of a barren field in the heart of nowhere.  "Why!" she screamed, with as much pain in her voice as fury, "Why did you betray me!"
1. The Beginning

It was midnight. They stood in the middle of a barren field in the heart of nowhere. It was pouring rain. Lightning lit up the sky for an instant, illuminating the field like noon.

It would be one or the other. A duel to the death lay before them.

She reached for her knives and watched him do the same with his swords. They started walking slowly, closing the distance between them, and sped up, as they got closer. They were all-out sprinting by the time their weapons met.

There was a flash of light as they slammed into each other, weapons slicing through the blackness. "Why?" she screamed, with as much pain in her voice as fury, "Why did you betray me?"

_Hey T,_

_I need your help. Same place, same time. See you there?_

_-E_

He read the email again. Once, twice, three times. He hadn't heard so much as a rumor of her in months, and now she was saying she needed him. He shook his head and chuckled a little. What had she gotten herself into this time?

He checked his watch. In order to be on time he would have to leave in ten minutes or so. Fortunately it was almost time for lunch. He called out to anyone who was listening that he was taking a personal lunch break. Someone soon grunted their acknowledgment, but he was already out the door.

Once he got his car out onto the open highway he turned off his phone and removed the batteries. It soon lay in the glove compartment, untraceable and therefore safe. He knew he wouldn't be going back to work today.

About an hour and a half later he turned onto a dirt road that wound past abandoned farms in the middle of nowhere. He parked by a giant open field. As he got out of his car he saw her.

A young woman, a few years younger than him. Her hair was long, straight, and brown. Her jade green eyes were set like jewels in a face that seemed strangely exotic. They flickered over his face and around the field. Her clothes were both provocative and practical. Tight black pants and a black tank top. A red leather jacket that just reached the middle of her stomach. Tall red boots. She looked good.

"Haven't seen you in a while, E. How have you been?" he didn't get too close. Her body language told him that something was terribly wrong.

"Tony!" she looked at him and managed a wan smile. It quickly faded. "Tony... they're back. And they're looking for me."


	2. The Nightmare

**AN: This is chapter two and yeah enjoy! I want to give a big thanks to my older sis figure Kat. With out her this story wouldn't be half as good. So lets give her a round of applause.**

**Disclaimer: I always forget this so I don't own anything except for my imagination. **

Tony shook her awake. She had been screaming for a long time before his groggy brain figured out what was going on and he was able to wake her up.

She stared at him, puzzled. After a moment she remembered. They were in the back of her car on a lonely dirt road somewhere in northern Pennsylvania. By tomorrow night they would be safe with sensei. She sat up and looked out the window.

"I had the dream again," she mumbled. "The one about Mom."

"Ell..." he began.

"It's like that hour is burned into my mind," she said bitterly. "If I could block it out like you I would."

The siblings were silent for a long time, lost in thought. It was getting close to dawn. Finally Tony stirred.

"Since we're awake, should we hit the road?" he asked. "And do you still want me to drive?"

She nodded and didn't look at him. He sighed and climbed into the front seat.

He knew she was still trapped in hell, but he was afraid to call her back. He didn't even know how.

All he could do was hit the gas.

He stood there for a moment, frozen. He wouldn't believe it. How could he? They had gotten rid of those scumbags ages ago. He stared into her face, desperately searching for a twinkle that would reveal it as one of her less tasteful jokes. Her eyes showed only despair.

"W-what?" he finally choked out. "What are you saying, E? That's just not possible! They're dead. They're all dead. We watched them die!"

"They're back. I don't know how, I don't know why, I don't-" her voice cracked and she looked away.

"Are you sure?" he knew she was sure or she wouldn't have come. "They can't come back... last time we lost. And we were all together then. Now we're alone."

"They can't catch me. I won't let them catch me. I'd die first. I don't want to end up like Mom."

And suddenly the invincible young assassin broke down and cried. And the NCIS special agent caught her and held her until the sobbing stopped.

He was shocked to see her cry at all. She had always been in command of herself, even as a child. But he knew that the prospect of returning to the nightmare they thought they'd left behind for good would shake anyone to the core.

"Don't worry, Elly." he said when she had stopped shaking. "You're safe. I won't let them touch you. We aren't children anymore and you're going to be ok. I swear you'll be ok. They don't know what they're going to face when we get hold of them."

"Tony?" she said weakly.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"No problem" He handed her his handkerchief. "So now what?"

"We go see sensei, of course." He smiled at that.

"We can't take my car though, E. They probably put out a BOLO already."

"We can take mine!" She was quite cheerful. "It's a gorgeous vintage Mustang convertible. You'll like it."

She led him across the field to where her car was obscured by the shadow of the trees. How did he know it would be red? Same old Elly.

"It will take us at least a day to get there. We'll want to stay off the main roads as much as possible and he's still way up in the Catskills." he was examining a map in the passenger seat while she steered them back onto the dirt road.

"I know, Tony. That's why we're driving fast." she slammed her foot down on the accelerator and they sped away.

**In DC**

Back in DC: twenty minutes after Tony left, Gibbs comes in looking for him. Seeing that Tony is nowhere to be found, he begins barking at Ziva and McGee.

"Where the hell is DiNozzo?"

"Um, well... boss, we um, we don't know." McGee sputtered in surprise.

Ziva explained, "He left twenty minutes ago on a 'personal lunch break'. He hasn't come back yet."

"Well, it's over! Get him back in here." Gibbs was furious. Ziva and McGee began trying his different contact numbers in an effort to reach him.

"Cell phone went straight to voicemail, Gibbs." Ziva announced.

"Track him, McGee," Gibbs said.

"Already on it," McGee replied. After a pause he cleared his throat and continued, "His phone is untraceable. He must have removed the batteries."

"Put a BOLO out for his car," Gibbs snapped. He groaned inwardly. Tony had asked for and been granted a meeting with the director, which was to have begun ten minutes ago. When Tony didn't appear, she had sent Gibbs to look for him. Where could he possibly have gone?

Hi there. My name is Eleanor Katherine DiNozzo. Don't call me Eleanor though. Eleanor is an old lady name. You should call me Elly instead, because that's what everyone else does.

I'm six years old. I just finished Kindergarten and I'm going to be in first grade next year. I live in a big house with my Mommy and my big brother Tony. He's nine and he's really tall and he knows EVERYTHING. I mean it. If I ask him something he always knows the answer. Right now I'm playing hide and seek with him.

This is the hallway where the kitchen and the dining room and fancy parlor are. Sometimes Mommy and Tony and I have tea parties in the fancy parlor. I like tea parties because I get to dress up and drink juice from pretty cups with my pinky sticking out like a grown-up lady. Tony pretends he doesn't like tea parties but I know he secretly does.

I'm going past the kitchen so I'm gonna look in there. I don't think Tony is in the kitchen though. He hid there last time.

I like the kitchen. It's yellow and that reminds me of butter. One time I went to my friend Jenny's house and her kitchen was pink. Pink is my favorite color but I still like our kitchen better. Tony isn't in here.

Mommy taught me a song yesterday. I can't remember the words so I'm going to hum it.

Oh! I can hear Tony laughing. He's under the stairs. He must have heard me humming. I run to the door that goes under the stairs.

"Gotcha Tony!" I throw open the door and jump on him.

"Yeah, you did." We're laughing. I am happy.

"Where's Mommy, Tony? I'm hungry."

"She went to read her book, remember? You're a silly goose."

"No, I'm not! You're a silly goose!"

He gives me a piggyback ride up the stairs. Today Mommy is going to teach me how to make chicken Marsala. Chicken Marsala is my favorite food in the world, ever. Except for Mac 'n' cheese and Reese's peanut butter cups. Mommy is a really good cook and she always makes us our favorite foods for our birthdays or if she gets good reports from our teachers.

"Mommy!" I shout," Can we make chicken Marsala now?" She won't let me touch the stove unless she's with me. I'm not very good at reading cookbooks anyway. Why won't she respond? Did she fall asleep?

Tony puts me down and we knock on the door.

"Mommy? Are you asleep?" I open the door and poke my head inside. "Mommy? MOMMY?"

What's wrong with Mommy? She's on her bed, but the bed is all bloody and she looks wrong. Her head is at a funny angle and her tummy isn't moving. Isn't she breathing? I run over to the bed and grab her hand.

"Why are you bleeding, Mommy? What's wrong? Do we have to call 911?" She always told us that if something really bad happened we had to call 911. I am trying to be brave and not cry so Mommy will know I'm still her big girl.

Tony walks in slowly behind me. "Mom?" His eyes are big because there is a lot of blood.

"Mommy, tell me what to do!" She's not saying anything or even blinking. I'm scared.

And then I notice there's somebody else in the room. Somebody huge and a sickly shade of red. He has horns and a tail. The devil? As he gets closer the air starts to smell bad. I want to run away but I don't want to leave Mommy alone with this scary thing. I'm still holding her hand.

He's holding a pair of really big swords and when he gets really close he moves them up over his head. Suddenly I look down and realize Mommy is dead. The monster killed her.

And he's going to kill us too.

Tony shook her awake. She had been screaming for a long time before his groggy brain figured out what was going on and he was able to wake her up.

She stared at him, puzzled. After a moment she remembered. They were in the back of her car on a lonely dirt road somewhere in northern Pennsylvania. By tomorrow night they would be safe with sensei. She sat up and looked out the window.

"I had the dream again," she mumbled. "The one about Mom."

"Ell..." he began.

"It's like that hour is burned into my mind," she said bitterly. "If I could block it out like you I would."

The siblings were silent for a long time, lost in thought. It was getting close to dawn. Finally Tony stirred.

"Since we're awake, should we hit the road?" he asked. "And do you still want me to drive?"

She nodded and didn't look at him. He sighed and climbed into the front seat.

He knew she was still trapped in hell, but he was afraid to call her back. He didn't even know how.

All he could do was hit the gas.

**AN: Please review.**


	3. Sensei

**AN: Hey! I'm sorry it's taken so long to update. Once school started for me it was pretty hectic. Then my sis Kat started school, she goes to a prep school that starts at like 8 and doesn't get home till like 7 some nights. And then my cat died. So my life has been pretty busy lately. So anyway enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own notin.**

Yesterday Tony left abruptly, saying he was "taking a personal lunch break". Nobody has seen him since. Gibbs is of course furious, but at the moment we are distracted from looking for the runaway Tony by a new case.

A petty officer in the Navy had been shot and killed. His body was left in a feed storage unit on a goat farm in rural Pennsylvania, where it was found by a farm hand refilling the unit a few days later.

We took care of the site without Tony, taking the usual painstaking photographs and bagging samples of everything for Abby. The farm hand and owners were interviewed at length, and at last we returned to headquarters with the body, the bags of evidence, and... the goats?

When we questioned this, Abby explained, "The chemical composition of their food will have changed because of the microbes and chemicals being given off by the body, as well as anything else that was going on at the time. Normally we would just examine the food itself, but as they've already ingested it we have to be creative. We'll send them back to the farm in a few days."

And so a section of the parking lot has been fenced off and given over to the goats. When we first returned to headquarters and attempted to unload them from the trailer, three of the goats promptly charged us and the rest followed. We jumped out of the way. After the small stampede had ended they stood around bleating and eyeing us with distaste as their new feed bins were set up. When one of them tried to take a stealthy bite of my jacket I decided it was time to leave. They can frequently be heard over the sounds of traffic and need to be fed and given water twice a day.

Meanwhile we are all working on the case. Gibbs left early this afternoon to speak with the family while Ziva and I are trying to find out the victim's background and recent activities. I've noticed her looking at Tony's desk every so often, but I won't say anything.

Tony glanced over at his sister. She was chewing on her bottom lip, clearly troubled.

"You ok?"

"Fine," she said distantly.

They were both quiet for a time. The engine purred appreciatively as Tony switched lanes.

"Remember when we first met sensei?"

Immediately she turned to look at him. So he wanted to talk about it. He focused his eyes straight ahead as she searched his face. Satisfied with what she saw, she returned to staring out her window.

"How could I forget?" she murmured. "He saved our lives.

_The monster grinned down at us, savoring the moment. His prey stood helpless before him and he was only a breath away from bringing about the delicious process of death. How elegant, how inevitable it all was to his mind. The feverish months of hunting were worth it for this. He shivered with pleasure._

_The sword began its descent. Tony and I stared upward, rooted to the spot by fear. _

_Suddenly there was a flash and the sword paused in midair. It had been blocked by a bamboo pole. I remember being bewildered to see it wielded by an old man. A long fight ensued, of which I remember little because Tony and I fled under the bed and lay there shaking until it was over. _

_The demon was apparently driven off and silence fell. I watched the old man's feet approach. After a pause, he knelt beside the bed and said softly that it was safe to come out. We did, and then stood watching as he examined the room and removed all traces of the monster._

_Tony spoke first, trembling. "Who-who are you?"_

_"They call me Sensei Stick. The thing you saw a moment ago was a demon. He killed your mother, and would have killed you as well had he gotten the chance."_

_There was a pause. Sensei looked around the room thoughtfully. Finally I got up the courage to ask why, and promptly burst into tears. _

_He turned to me sadly. "Because, young one, he thought that your mother would be the one to fulfill an old prophecy." He sighed and went to the door. "Come. We are going to the temple. There you will be safe, and I will tell you everything I can."_

_Tony and I looked at each other. Somehow we both knew we wouldn't be coming back. Regardless, we said a tearful goodbye to mom and walked to the car holding hands. _

_An adult would have questioned the logic of this, leaving our home and the body of our murdered mother to go somewhere with a demonstrably violent stranger. To a child it somehow made perfect sense, and though the road from that moment was long and painful I have no regrets._

**AN: So there it is! Please Review! Also I'm thinking of making this an uncross over fic and just making it ncis instead of ncis and Elektra. So tell me what you think cause it is only like based off of Elektra.**


	4. The Temple

**AN: Ok so I know it's been a while but here it is the fourth chapter! I have also decided to add some tiva to my story! So read and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing… -_- such a shame…..**

(Elly's POV)

I looked out the window for about the millionth time at the Catskills scenery. How long has it been since I was last here? It feels like centuries. Old, half-forgotten memories flashed through my mind unbidden. I hadn't thought of any of these in a long, long time. I guess once you have started looking back it's too hard to just stop.

I watched as the trees went by, blurring together. It was only a matter of time till we got to the front gates of the temple.

"Tony?" I asked

"Yeah?" he responded.

"Do- do you think that they still have Dad?"

"I don't know Elly. I... hope not. But if they do, I hope we can find him."

I sighed, remembering the last time we saw dad. It was a few months before mom died.

"_Please don't go, Daddy! Please!" I cried, hugging his leg._

"_I have to, Buttercup. But don't worry! I'll be back in a few days."_

"_Pinky promise?"_

"_I pinky promise." we locked pinkies and shook firmly. Thus satisfied, I resumed hugging his leg._

"_Bye Daddy!" Tony bounded down the stairs. "Bye Dad, have fun in Texas."_

"_Oh, I will, because business trips are always so much fun." he smiled and rolled his eyes._

"_Ha-ha I know."_

"_Bye, Jr.," he ruffled Tony's hair. "Take care of your mom and baby sister for me, ok? Think you can do that?"_

"_You can count on it!" Tony was excited to have such an important job and puffed out his chest proudly._

"_I love you guys." Dad bent down to hug us._

"_How much do you love us?" I asked curiously._

"_More than the world, the moon, and the stars."_

"_What would you do for us?" Tony asked._

"_I would go to Pluto and back. Twice if I had to."_

_Tony and I were in awe. He'd go twice! "We love you dad."_

"_I love you guys too." he was laughing as he walked out the door. _

_I watched him drive away and blew kisses through the frosty glass even after I couldn't see him anymore. I imagined them flying through the air and landing in his car. I wasn't aware then that that would be the last time I ever saw him. _

_The next day we got a call telling us that our dad had disappeared. We looked for months. We called the police of every town we could think of where he might be, the FBI, the CIA, Interpol, and even hired a few private detectives. We were still looking when Mom died. I never stopped looking._

"You're thinking about Dad, aren't you?" Tony asked.

"Yeah... a little."

"Don't worry we'll find him. We did last time."

"I guess..."

He put his hand over mine reassuringly.

"I know we will."

"We're here." Tony said.

I looked up at the great gates; big stone arches with ornate gold doors. Each elegant curl of metal had been lovingly crafted by one of sensei's grateful former students. I know that whole (very interesting) story, just as I know that underneath the soft golden veneer is an impenetrable layer of electrified titanium macro polymer. The entire United States military probably couldn't get through these gates if they tried.

As if anybody could even get past the security to so much as touch the gate. Each guard had been trained in every form of martial arts known to man, as well as in the use of a myriad of weapons from light daggers to rocket propelled grenades to guided nuclear missiles. They were quick, quiet, and deadly, with solemn faces and graceful movements. I chuckled to myself a little. I remembered well when I suggested that the guards wear traditional ninja attire.

I still can't believe they ended up wearing it. One jumped down from the arches.

"Who are you?" He asked in a low threatening vice. He must be new.

"Elly and Tony DiNozzo," I said brightly. "We are old friends of sensei."

"Friends of sensei? You two? Please." he said mockingly, rolling his eyes at the other guards. One of them winked at me. Probie, he mouthed.

"You don't believe us?" I said in mock astonishment.

"Let's just say I'd like some proof." he shifted into fighters' stance and cracked his knuckles menacingly.

"You asked for it." I murmured.

I leapt out of the car and had him pinned in 8 seconds flat.

"Now, if you gentlemen will be so kind as to excuse me... I think I am going to see sensei."

I stepped over the probie, making sure he could see the profile of my high-heeled boot, and casually strolled over to the gates. The pass lock was kind of cool, really. There were a bunch of beautifully carved ancient symbols. All you had to do to gain entry was put them in their correct spaces and insert your diamond key.

After that was done I went back to the car and got in to wait while the gates swung open.

I heard Tony chuckle a bit.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just kinda funny that you can still take down probies... in about eight seconds. You're getting a little rusty, E."

I rolled my eyes and he urged the car forward.

"You were flirting with him, weren't you?"

"Was not."

"Yeah, you were. You were doing that thing you do when you knock a guy down. Swinging your hair and all that."

"Ok, maybe a little." I grinned at my brother and watched him draw the next logical conclusion.

"Wait... you don't have a boyfriend, do you?"

We started to see the temple on the horizon. It was beautiful, sitting atop the crest of a hill with the mountains all around it disappearing into clouds in the distance. The road wound up to the outside walls, which stood as proud and tall as a classical palace. The inside is filled with shrines, houses, training areas, a bakery, stables, and many other things. I had a flashback to when I first saw the temple complex.

Mr. Sensei Sticks, Sir. Are we almost there?"

"Almost, young one."

"Are we ever gonna go home again?"

"Possibly. But not for a long time. The demons will be there."

"Why do they want us?"

"Because, young one, you will be the one to fulfill the prophesy."

"What prophesy?" Tony asked.

"In your family, there is a special gene that is passed down to every other generation."

"Jeans... like pants?" I asked.

Sensei chuckled a bit.

"No, like something that is passed down from your parents."

"What is it?" Tony asked.

"The Great Warrior trait."

"So what's the prophecy?"

"Many, many years ago, your great-great-great-grandmother Annabella DiNozzo defeated the great Cho-Chung. Before he died he saw that he would come again and wreak havoc on the earth. That time is coming in a few years. They wanted to destroy you before you could start your training. That is why they killed your mother. They thought that she would fulfill the prophecy."

"But... if it's passed down every other generation couldn't they just count?" I asked.

"They didn't know she already had a daughter. There are many things that they don't know, fortunately for us."

"They killed our mommy just because she could have a baby? That's not fair!"

"We are here." He said.

I looked up in awe. "This place is ginormous!"

I heard sensei laughing but I didn't care.

Tony and I got out of the car and stood before the Great Hall. I looked up and suddenly wondered whether this place was home to me. Even as a child I had thought of it only as a temporary safe space, one where I was simply pausing for a while before moving on. Is that what a home is to a wandering lady assassin? I shook my head. Thinking about the meaning of my life in a time like this won't help me at all.

I took a deep breath and pushed through the grand front doors, stepping carefully into the shadowy hall. I scanned the room as my eyes adjusted. The stained glass of the windows cast faint colored lights onto the stones that made up the floor. Sensei was in the far corner of the hall, watching a number of (apparently inexperienced) fighters locked in combat. Occasionally he would step in to murmur a suggestion to one or adjust the stance of another. This was a scene I knew well. Tony and I approached slowly to avoid disturbing them.

Sensei had nodded to acknowledge us when we first entered, but as we drew nearer he looked up sharply and then left his students to hurry towards us. His face was troubled.

"Good afternoon, Elanora," he said formally. He was the only one who ever called me Elanora. "Is everything all right? Can I be of any assistance?"

Have I mentioned that sensei is blind? Just a piece of trivia. It also shows how remarkable it is that he could read my emotions from across the room.

"If it is not too much to ask, we'd like a moment of your time, Sensei."

He made a sign to his students indicating that they should carry on. The three of us walked out a side door and towards the garden.

Once we had moved a reasonable distance away from the buildings I started talking.

"They are coming back for me, Sensei." I said quietly.

"Oh?" Sensei asked.

"They found me. Just like we always knew they would."

"Where? How?"

"I was in a bazaar in a Saudi Arabian town when I saw... something. It was just a hint, a breath maybe, I'm not sure what it was exactly... at any rate it was enough to get me on the alert. I barely had time to slip out before the market was-" I caught my breath. Calm, Elly. "-firebombed. I believe they were using firebombs. The cloth in the tents took to the fire and the whole place went up in smoke before my eyes."

"How dreadful. You were unhurt, though?"

"I was just fine. But Anna, she... she was not unharmed."

I watched their faces twist in horror as the full meaning of what I said hit them.

"Oh, my dear," Sensei reached for my hand.

"E, you... you didn't tell me," Tony's voice was strangled.

"I couldn't. Sensei, what are we going to do?"

"We will have to find the rest of your team…is anyone left?"

"No, it's just Tony and I. They got everyone else."

"That is tragic."

"I just can't believe they're all gone. Anna, Izzy, Bella, Angy, Danni, Antonio, Danny, Cat, Marco, Vinny, Paolo, Nikki, Erica, Lia... they're all gone!" I was practically screaming at this point and shaking with sobs. "They were our family! The only family we had left! And now...? We're alone! We've- we've always been alone."

Tony came over and hugged me. I clung to him for dear life.

"I miss them, Tony." I said quietly.

"I miss them too."

**Back in Dc**

(McGee's PoV)

Tony has been missing for about two days. A farmer driving home noticed the car abandoned in the middle of nowhere and reported it to the police. We searched the scene and tore the car apart looking for evidence, but couldn't find anything to indicate what had happened.

Everyone was beginning to get worried. Tony has always been flaky, but this was ridiculous. No matter how annoying he is, I don't actually want anything bad to happen to the guy. You'd think he would have at least called by now if something had come up.

I've been wondering whether someone is going to report him missing soon. When I mentioned it earlier, Ziva got cranky and started snapping at me. I haven't suggested it again.

I understand what she's feeling, though. Once somebody is reported missing, it is official that something is wrong. We join the ranks of the uncertain and worried people we come into contact with so often at our job. When we report Tony as missing, he slips into a void. Until then, he's just being flaky Tony.

I was working through lunch, on paperwork and research for the case. This one was difficult, as the petty officer was apparently a man with few friends and relatives and no enemies or secrets that anybody knew of. He hadn't even been reported missing. I was going through he bank records. Recently he had taken out a lot of money. That could be a lead. I reached for my sandwich.

My hand couldn't find it. I patted around the desk for a few seconds before looking up. A goat stared back at me impassively with half my sandwich hanging out of its mouth. I gaped and it leisurely turned and wandered away.

**(Ziva's PoV)**

I missed him. I really, truly, wholeheartedly missed him. It was stupid. He has always been so childish and annoying, and yet there was nothing I wanted more than for him to come back safe and sound. Without his dumb jokes and wicked grin the bullpen seemed strangely empty.

I wouldn't let myself think that something had happened to him. However dumb and incompetent he appeared, he was an NCIS special agent and his training would keep him alive no matter how dire the situation. Granted, he has not received training anywhere near as thorough as mine is and he left his gun in his desk. Also, he has a rather slow reaction time and if caught unaware...

I shook my head and looked back at the computer screen. If I kept worrying like this I'd never get all of my work done. It had not been very long since he had left. A phone call might come in at any moment with a perfectly reasonable explanation for his absence.

Why am I so frightened for him anyway? He is a rather obnoxious coworker of mine, nothing more. We've never even thought of each other that way. So why do I feel as though-

Suddenly McGee gave a yell and jumped up from his desk. I looked up in surprise. He ran past my desk, half bent over and roaring for help. I quickly stood, wondering whether he was ill.

Then I saw that he was chasing what appeared to be a small goat. It desperately ran towards the elevator, looking panicked and holding part of a sandwich in its mouth.

What the hell?

**AN: Well there it is! Please review!**


	5. The Demon

**AN: Well here it is chapter 5! I hope you enjoy it. My day will be even better if you review! I just got my I touch fixed today so I am MAD HAPPY! (Those of you not from New England "mad" used like that is a synonym for really or very.) So pretty please review!**

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING! So would you like to give me NCIS for Christmas or Hanukah, or Kwanzaa? What ever you celebrate Happy Holidays! Btw.  
**

(Tony's PoV)

I woke up sore and disoriented on a hard bench in the assembly hall at sensei's temple complex. We had trained for 4 solid hours after our arrival yesterday and my muscles were still complaining about every minute of it. I groaned and sat up. How long had it been since I'd last had anything to eat?

It must have been about dawn, because the sun was shining directly through the stained glass windows above me. I turned my head and saw Elly training with sensei again. I knew she was scared. Her face was perfectly neutral and focused and I knew that her thoughts would be much the same way, but each time they paused as sensei gave her a tip I could see a faint tremor in her hands.

Most people who knew Elly for what she was looked at her and saw only a heartless assassin, with no feelings to speak of and the thrill of killing acting as her sole purpose in life. At once elegant and deadly, she truly is a person to be feared and respected. But I look at her and just see my little sister. She was the one I had played countless hours of hide and seek with, the one I had humored again and again with little tea parties and games of dress-up, the one my father made me promise to protect. She was my baby sister and a girl who had lost too much too young.

Our parents and friends we lost one by one, each leaving indelible scars and oceans of pain too vast for either of us to even dream of finding closure. But most devastating of all to Elly was the loss of the love of her life, Marco Lombardi. They met when they were seventeen years old and fell in love at first sight. They were planning to get married and have a family together. He died when they were twenty-two.

Those were dark times. After my group came back from the trip, I went directly to her even though I was exhausted and pretty beat up. It wouldn't have been fair to her to hear it from anybody else. As soon as I said it the life drained out of her eyes and she turned away in despair. She wouldn't talk to anybody else for months. She went up into the mountains alone and trained with sensei for five months away from civilization. When she came down we saw she had only one thing on her mind: revenge. We didn't even try to stop her. It would have been useless anyway. She hunted down and slowly and painfully destroyed the demons involved, and then turned to being an assassin in order to use the pain in a way she could deal with. E was still just a kid, really. A lonely kid who had to became a woman when she was five years old.

I sighed. What did our family do to deserve so much heartbreak? Every time we relaxed for a moment, thought we were safe, some new tragedy would occur. Perhaps the same gene that made us gifted warriors also cursed us so that we had to keep fighting for our whole lives. Doesn't that sound fun? Fighting off bad guys with our walkers and canes! Defending our nursing home against the demon hordes! Heroes to our graves! Oh, but I must remember that if we follow in the footsteps of the rest of our family, we won't be fighting for very long. In fact, this latest crisis probably meant we were nearly out of time already.

Suddenly I was afraid of dying. It was sort of stupid, actually. I'm an NCIS Special Agent and I face death almost every day. But this is a different kind of death than the one I fear when being shot at by a terrorist or running from a bomb. This one is so certain and abrupt and completely not heroic that I almost can't stand to think about it. How much time do we have before the demons start knocking on sensei's gate or killing people to make us come out? Will they be here next week? A few days from now? Tomorrow? Elly is training hard, but I don't really believe that we can win or even hold our own against them for very long. And I never even got to say a proper goodbye to anyone, not even Ziva.

I shook my head to clear it. These thoughts were seriously unhelpful. What alternative did we have to fighting anyway? Surrender? Yeah, right. I decided to go for a walk in the woods, maybe do some scouting or something.

I waved at E and sensei and stepped out the door. The sun had just cleared the horizon and the sky was losing its dawn pink. The hills to the east of the temple complex had been my favorite as a child. It had been logged a long time ago and the forest was reclaiming it, so there were lots of birches and little meadows and stuff. I decided to head out that way and then after a while veer north, towards the more ancient woods deeper into the hills. It would be a pretty good workout. I needed one badly because I've spent the last week or so sitting at my desk doing paperwork or sitting in the car with Elly. The soreness from the training yesterday just showed how out of shape you can get in a week of laziness.

The sun was high in the sky when I stopped to rest. I had kept up a fairly steady pace for most of the morning, jogging some and walking some, and I was pleased with myself when I sat down on the rock. I also really wished I had brought a sandwich with me. I guessed that I was about 30 miles away from the compound, which wasn't too bad for a sore guy going for six hours on rough uphill terrain. I've done better, though.

The trees up here were bigger and shaggier and older and I was enjoying the shade. The rocks all around were broken into jagged chunks with little trees growing up around them. There was a lonely crow cawing somewhere above my head. The air was still and almost eerie. In a few weeks the trees would be changing color, exploding into red and orange and gold, and a chilly wind would start blowing. The Catskills were really pretty in the fall and I sort of missed them when I was in D.C. The city had trees too, but it just wasn't the same.

Were there any berries in season now? I was getting really hungry and realized that I could have planned this better. Leaving without breakfast or lunch was not a great plan. There might be some wild blueberries around, but not in this part of the woods.

I heard a soft footfall to my right and felt the hairs on the back of my neck go up. Elly could have tracked me, but I wouldn't have heard her. Some nature-lover on a walk in the woods? I would have heard them a mile away, and they wouldn't have been sneaking around. It could be a hunter, but somehow I knew it wasn't. The odds of meeting anyone out here were one in a million anyway. I turned my head in the direction of the sound, making a show of cracking my neck. The forest was still.

A leaf fluttered about a hundred yards away at the corner of my vision. Damn it. I remembered clearly where my gun was; it sat all gleaming at my desk in the office. I didn't even have so much as a pocketknife on me for self-defense. Good thinking, Dinozzo. But how could they have found us so quickly? Could it really just be bad luck on my part? I finished stretching and leisurely brought my arms down to my sides. He was right behind me now.

I threw one of the broken chunks of rock behind me and hurled myself forward. Whirling around, I saw that the piece I had thrown had connected with the side of the demon's skull and he had paused in attacking me to howl in pain. I searched the ground frantically for any branch or sharp rock I could use as a weapon. Most of the wood on the ground looked too rotten to be useful. Damn it. I couldn't fight him. All I could do was try to run.

He recovered and started slinking toward me, fuming. I was staggering backwards away from him as fast as I could, hitting branches and tripping over things in the way. Never turn your back on a demon, especially if he's pissed at you.

Even worse if he has a huge sword. The extra few yards I had earned by attacking first were quickly being swallowed. He slashed through the undergrowth tirelessly and scarcely took his eyes off me. If I died now, nobody would ever know what happened to me. Or if they did find out, E would probably lose it and die herself trying to get revenge. I needed time to think of a plan to take him down but I didn't have any. I was out of breath and running out of options.

A stick. I needed a big stick. I could hit him with it, but I had to keep it away from the sword or he'd just slash right through. If I could avoid the sword and keep smacking him with the stick, he'd eventually get beat up enough that I could take the sword away from him. I decided to give up what time I had before he got to me to snap a branch off of a tree.

I grabbed a branch and threw my whole weight into breaking it. Rock forward, back, jump on it. It broke all right, but there was a bit of live bark and wood still holding it to the tree. I yanked and twisted desperately to try and make it come off.

The demon was much closer than I thought. The sword came out of nowhere and nearly took my arm off. I managed to get by with a deep gash instead. The sword was driven deep into the tree, thankfully cutting the branch free. If only I could reach it without being decapitated.

I backed up slowly. The demon sneered at me and lifted his sword. My back hit a tree and I dove out of the way of the blade. He struggled for a moment to get it out. I grabbed the branch off the forest floor and sprinted up the hill looking over my shoulder. He followed.

We kept moving uphill, me ducking and dodging while trying to get in a few blows at his stomach and him slashing blindly at wherever he had last seen me. We were both bleeding. I couldn't keep this up forever, so I decided to make a gamble.

I scrambled up the side of a boulder, waited for him to get closer, and suddenly leapt out over his head. He slashed at my legs, but his face and neck took a beating. Unfortunately I landed badly and felt my ankle snap in the wrong direction. I collapsed and rolled down the hill.

He caught up to me a ways down the hill, where my tumble had been stopped short by a tree. I watched him approach and knew I was a sorry sight. I was beaten and bloody, dazed by the blows from rocks and bushes on the way down, and slipping into shock. He didn't look so hot himself, but he was upright and holding a sword and I was lying on the ground helpless and too dizzy to even sit up. He stood over me for a minute, then grinned and slowly lifted the katana above his head execution-style, which is the style demons generally prefer when they have time. I realized I was going to die, and for some reason I suddenly thought of Ziva.

Ziva… I'm so sorry, Ziva. What have I done? I was such an idiot to think I had time to tell you how special I think you are. You'll never know that now, and you'll never even know what happened to me. I'll just be obnoxious Tony forever to you. The sword moved forward and I watched it sadly. Goodbye, Ziva David.

The sword paused and the demon looked up in surprise. It was caught on a twig. He tried to shake it free. I kicked him between the legs and he fell, curled into a ball, cursing and yelling. More importantly he had dropped the sword. I was only just able to reach the tip of the blade by pushing myself forward a bit.

I propped myself up on my elbows, swaying with the head rush, and tried to drag the sword over him. He grabbed at it, cutting his hands. His eyes showed fear. I threw my weight onto the other side of the sword, driving it down into his throat. He frantically pushed the sword away and stood, staggering towards a leafy bush across the clearing. He pressed a bunch of leaves to his neck to try and stop the bleeding. I dragged myself out into the open and waited for him to die and go back to his own world.

In a moment or two he sank to the ground and then lay still in a pool of his own blood. I relaxed. The scene was completely unreal. The trees and undergrowth were slashed and even torn up in places. The blood from the two of us sparkled in the sun, his inky black and mine bright red. It was smeared everywhere, or lay in drops winking cheerfully in the light of midday. The sky was a warm, friendly blue. I was in agony and slowly losing consciousness. I had defeated the demon, but it didn't seem to have done me any good.

Elly, I thought. Help me, Elly.

**AN: Mwhahahahaha I am evil! Cliffhanger! Review if you want to know if tony dies or not. And some of you might think oh she won't kill tony. Well you would be wrong I am completely capable of killing him. So you just watch me. Will I won't I? You just have to review and see…**


	6. Zva

**AN: Well here you go, chapter 6! Finally. Anyway please read enjoy and review!**

(Tony's PoV)

I kept repeating my location in my mind again and again, hoping E would follow it and hurry. She was faster than me and could probably get here more quickly than I had, especially if she walked in a straight line. All the same it would probably take hours that I didn't necessarily have.

I was fighting shock and losing. I had done everything I could for it: rolling onto my side with my feet uphill, stopping the bleeding, covering myself with some of the dry leaves and pine needles on the forest floor to try and stay warm. It wasn't enough. I was gasping for air and dizzy and my vision was going dark at the edges. I might as well have let the demon kill me and avoided all this trouble.

I imagined Ziva in the bullpen teasing McGee, her smile lighting up her face as he realized what the joke was and got annoyed with her. I'll miss that smile.

An engine roared up the hill and Elly was there. She was shouting, panicked. The world went dark.

I woke up startled and looked around. I was in my old bed at the compound with clean white bandages wrapped all over me. I had a throbbing headache and to say that everything hurt was the understatement of the year. How many times can a guy wake up feeling like he's been run over by a bus in just one day?

"E?" I managed to croak out. She came flying out of nowhere and bounded onto the bed, with a bone-crushing hug worthy of Abby. I groaned in pain. She ignored me. "Why do I always end up in pain when we have sibling reunions?"

"That might be true… but this one is completely your fault, idiot," she said playfully. "I know you didn't have a weapon on you and it's painfully obvious you haven't had a decent martial arts workout in months."

"Ok, going out without a weapon wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had. I just didn't think they'd find us so quickly."

"Me neither, to be honest. The whole thing is very strange…" She trailed off, lost in thought. Suddenly she looked down at me, blinked once, and turned away in fury. "I'm really very angry with you, you know."

"Uh, I'm sorry." I was confused.

"You could have died! Do you think I can deal with you dying? Huh? You are so-" She paused to inhale. "So selfish, Tony Dinozzo!"

"Elly. When I went out this morning, do you think I had some crazy to-do list with me? 1. Go for jog. 2. Nearly get killed by demon. 3. Buy milk. No. I wasn't exactly *planning* to get beat up, you see."

"Intention is irrelevant. You let it happen; it's your fault." She suddenly grinned and punched me in the shoulder. "Jerk. You made me laugh. How am I supposed to convince you I was actually worried if I'm laughing?"

"So are you going to tell me what happened?"

"Wait, you don't remember?" She was surprised. I shook my head.

"The last thing I remember was you finding me."

"You were attacked by a demon, yeah?" she mused, remembering.

Elly's PoV)

After training with Sensei for a while I had gone to the gym to beat on some punching bags while he worked with his regular students. I knew what I needed to work on anyway: keeping my balance. Sometimes after delivering a blow and landing I am unsteady for a fraction of a second before I can recover and prepare for the next attack. When you fight like I am going to have to, you can't make little mistakes like that. Unfortunately, the warlords and human traffickers I take out for a living just don't put up enough of a fight to keep me in the kind of shape I like to be in. Most of the most powerful ones are fat, anyway. It's usually just the bodyguards you have to worry about.

At noon I started to think about lunch. I didn't want to stop training for something as seemingly unimportant as food, but I knew I needed calories and protein to avoid burnout and build up muscle. I decided to compromise by throwing in one more round with the bags before running down to lunch.

When I walked into the mess hall I immediately saw heads turning and whispers. So they know who I am already. News spreads fast around here. Alumni of Sensei's little school rarely come back here once they leave, and seeing a female graduate was unheard of. Sensei trains very few girls. I hadn't seen any in the temple complex since I got here. Huh, I thought. These boys probably haven't seen a real woman since they left home.

One thing I can say about the food here, it's pretty good for an institution. If you have a bunch of adolescent men exhausting themselves in strenuous athletic activity for hours on end, you have to feed them well. They need good nutrition to keep up with sensei's training regimen. That said, the meals do get pretty redundant after a while.

I got roast lamb and wild rice with a few random vegetables thrown on top. I was really hoping to just suck it down and get back to training. Tony says I have tunnel vision about that sort of thing. I prefer to call it focus, but he's right. And I like it that way. If you think too much, things just get really complicated and painful really fast. You'll go crazy and get killed out there. If you just do what you have to and keep moving you go home safe and sound at the end of the mission. Focus is what keeps you sane.

One of the tables was apparently very interested in me. They kept nudging each other and muttering while looking at me. Soon two of them stood up and approached.

"Yes?" I asked before they could speak. They looked at each other and then puffed out their chests in a show of arrogance. Great. Three seconds into the conversation and they've already brought out the testosterone.

"You are one of sensei's old students, correct?" one of them asked.

"I am."

"We'd like to challenge you. Uh, after you've finished eating of course."

I was amused. "I'll accept your challenge. We'll meet outside in ten minutes. Just make sure you're ready." They marched back to their table, no doubt very pleased with themselves. I wondered whether they knew any other ways to interact with women. They probably were hoping to impress me with their fighting skills and then brag about their successes in other areas.

Upon heading outdoors I saw that they had set up a makeshift fighting-ring with rope. I sauntered over and made small talk while waiting for them to finish whatever else they were doing and be ready to start. A few people had gathered nearby to watch. It was a pity that T wasn't there to watch. He used to love doing this sort of thing when we were kids. Clearly things haven't changed much around here.

I decided to duel one of the mid-size challengers first, so as to startle them with how quick I could take him down while still leaving room for them to wonder how I'd perform when being attacked by one of the really big guys. His strategy was apparently to charge while swinging his limbs around blindly. I noticed that he masked a few legitimate moves with his random motions and he was careful to remain balanced enough to be ale to dodge. A promising kid. I dodged his charge and pinned his arms behind his back. He tried to kick me and I used the opportunity to knock him down and pin him. End of fight. I helped him up and made a big show of blowing him a kiss as he stepped out of the ring. He flushed and I grinned.

The audience was clearly unnerved by how quickly that ended. The next opponent stepped in much more cautiously than the other kid had. He looked almost grim and was older and more heavily muscled. I brushed the hair out of my eyes innocently and watched him pacing while he set up for whatever his strategy was going to be. He started to weave towards me, keeping his center of gravity low. I waited. I could hear murmurs, the other students debating what he was going to do.

That was when I heard it. It was no more that a whisper in the wind, so quiet from lack of use. But still I heard it.

"Elly," It was Tony. "Help me, Elly". I tilted my head to the side, trying to hear better, and moved away from the boy who was pacing toward me.

"Where are you?" I thought.

"In the old woods" the answer came back. But there was something wrong. His words sounded weak and faded. He was hurt. Badly. It had been a long time since I had heard him like that, but I still remembered how it sounded. I panicked and turned to run. I yelled something about having to be somewhere at the students and sprinted down the hill. There were dirt bikes in a shed near the woods. I wrestled one out and urged it forward into the woods. It hadn't been used in a while and accelerated slowly. I listened for any other communication and revved the engine. Come on, move! You stupid piece of junk! Go faster! The engine roared and the tires broke sticks and crackled leaves, making it difficult to listen for Tony.

The old woods are here. Where is my brother? I got a vague idea of a rock formation higher on the mountain. I tried to force the bike to move faster by sheer willpower. The steep slope and brush made it dangerous to keep going so fast. Twigs tore at my hair and I kept having to dodge branches.

Suddenly I smelled blood and torn wood. There! I followed the scent. It got stronger as I went up and mingled with the reek of demon flesh. A demon was here? And apparently there was a lot of blood.

"TONY!" I screamed in my mind. "TONY, ARE YOU OK?" There was no answer. The smell was getting stronger and filled my nose. It was nauseating.

Finally I saw his jacket in the distance. There he was. He lay in a heap on the ground with a few threads of sunlight on his face. He wasn't moving, but he was alive. I could see the unsteady rise and fall of his chest. He was gasping for air. After I knew that he was alive, I could finally take in what was around me.

Clearly there had been a huge fight here. All around me the forest was in ruins. Drops of blood were sprinkled over everything. Some of it Tony's, some of it was from a demon or demons. I could see the body of something green and slimy behind a bush nearby. Its inky black blood pooled around it and ran down the hill. Had Tony fought and killed him by himself? Clearly the demon had not had any friends with him, or they would have finished T off before leaving. And a quick scan of the forest surrounding us showed that we were safe for now.

I had thrown the bike down and ran to Tony while taking all this in. I knelt beside him and checked his pulse. Even his heartbeat was fading. He didn't stir. How long did I take getting up here? How much blood has he lost? I knew I needed to get him back to the temple, but I wasn't sure he could survive the trip. I've always been much better at destroying bodies than healing them.

I decided to bandage him as well as I could before making the trip and then get help back in the temple complex. What else could I do? I cut away his shirt and pants, making a mental note to thank him for wearing boxers. The remains of his clothes could be used to mop up some of the blood. After doing that I tore my jacket into strips, which I wrapped around the wounds as well as I could. Then came the difficult task of transporting him- preferably without killing him.

"There we go, Tony. You're doing great," I said in case he was at all conscious. No response. "Please don't let me kill you," I added under my breath. I hooked my elbows under his arms and dragged him slowly down the hill towards the bike. How the hell was I going to get an unconscious full-grown man down to the temple in one piece on that thing?

In the end we made it. Barely. I adjusted the seat, draped him over the handlebars, and drove very, very slowly. The students came out and helped me carry him safely into a bed, and with a little help from sensei I eventually put him back together fairly well.

(Tony's PoV)

"Wow." I said. "That's pretty crazy, you know. I thought I was a goner. Since when can you heal people?"

"Mountains." Elly said. I nodded and didn't press it. We sat in a comfortable silence for a while.

"Hey E, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Do think I am a commitmentphobe?"

She thought for a minute and then shrugged. "Eh, you can be seriously obnoxious and flaky sometimes. You're stupid all the time. But afraid of commitment? I don't think so. Sure, you're fighter, doomed to a life of it. Maybe you don't really want to settle down because you always know that there is a chance of another war. At any moment you could get torn from the ones you love, yeah? But if there was somebody out there who could stick with you through thick and thin, in a fight through hell itself even, you really wouldn't have to worry about that so much. So, I don't think you're really afraid of commitment, you just need exactly the right person to commit to."

I smiled at her little speech. "Hey, thanks Elly."

"Anytime!" She said.

"So, uh… do you think you can cover for me tonight?"

"Why? You finally gonna go tell the lovely Ziva David that you are head-over-heels in love with her?" She said with a smirk.

"Wait, what? How did you-?" I was shocked. How did she know?

She tapped her head and said, "You were dreaming about telling her."

At that point I may have turned slightly red. I mean, wouldn't you if your little sister saw your dreams? Elly then put on a serious face.

"Tony… what about Angie and Rosie?"

I sighed. "You know, I've thought about that a lot lately, and I know now that they would be happy that I'm happy," She nodded slowly and tossed me a blue spherical crystal.

"Make sure you are home for breakfast." She said casually in the doorway before leaving the room. I changed into some normal clothes and walked into the courtyard.

I paused out in the open and pondered the choice I had just made. Like most of the decisions I've ever made, this idea of going to see Ziva was thought of on a whim and may or may not be a good idea. I traced the designs on the crystal with my thumb as I thought about Angie and Rosie. You are probably wondering who they are. Well, they are-or were-my wife and my daughter. Most people think that I never fell in love and never will. But they are wrong. I fell in love a long time ago. Her name was Angela Russo and she was the most beautiful girl in the world. She was smart, funny, wild, and just amazing. She was so beautiful. She had this long, dark, molten chocolate brown hair that always smelled of roses. What I loved about her the most was her eyes. They were a peculiar color, purple, and sparkled like dew. They were magical and mysterious. I was crazy about her. We had a whirlwind romance and got married young and had a beautiful baby girl named Rosetta. They were the reason I lived.

But then my world caved in. They went out on a girl's shopping trip one day and never came back. I was left with one final haunting memory of Rosetta's tiny hand blowing kisses to me out the car window. They had been viciously murdered by the last of the demons, coincidentally the one who killed my mother. I guess he really had it out for my family. I lost my mind when I saw the bodies. I captured the demon and slowly tortured it to death, trying to make him feel a fraction of the agony I felt. In fact I feel sort of sorry for him now, because he was just a demon and couldn't really understand love or loss. At any rate, after that I left the temple.

I went to Baltimore and created an identity for myself. After I worked at the Baltimore PD for a few years I went to work at NCIS. My partner Kate came along and became like a sister to me. I teased her mercilessly, and then made a solemn promise to myself to do everything I could to protect her. But I failed. Sometimes at night I can still see her die. The fact that her blood spattered on my face felt almost symbolic. Her blood was on me; this was my fault. I had finally lost too much. I had loved Kate like I loved Elly. After Kate, and Angie, and Rosie, I swore never to fall in love again.

But like most of my promises… that failed. I fell in love with my current partner Ziva David. I have grown so close to her the past few years. Somehow, between firefights, threatening to kick my ass, and late nights at the office with takeout, she stole my heart. And now I love her. What pained me the most was that I might never see her again. I'd never get to tell her how much I love her. I needed to see her again or I was going to go crazy. I needed to hear her laugh again, see her smile, and lose my train of thought looking into those deep brown eyes. I don't know what Angie would say if she found out I fell in love. I think, I hope, she would just be happy if I was happy. That's how I always felt about her. No matter how stupid or painful it was, as long as she was happy I was happy.

I looked at the ball and sighed. It was now or never. I whispered Ziva's address into it and braced myself. There was a flash of bright blue light. When my eyes adjusted I looked up to see that I was on the sidewalk in front of Ziva's place. Her window was open. I looked around to make sure nobody was watching before scaling the wall. The last thing I needed was somebody calling the police because they thought they saw a weird dude climbing into a window across the street. People don't usually look out of their windows at night anyway. Suddenly I realized that I was about to climb into her bedroom. Just my luck, because this wasn't going to be an awkward enough conversation already. I popped out the screen and slowly stepped inside, fully conscious of the fact that this scene could not possibly be any more creepy.

I saw Ziva in her bed, her sheets all twisted around her like she couldn't sleep. She looked so peaceful and beautiful when she was sleeping. Not that she wasn't beautiful all the time, but now it was as though the training and violence had melted away leaving a delicate young girl. Her hair was flung out across the pillow and her face was lit by a bit of gold light from the streetlamps outside. I wondered whether she had been a princess in a past life. She looked like one of those timeless portraits of beauty, a Greek statue or a painting of an angel. I stared in awe.

And then my thoughts were interrupted by one of her sailor snores. I chuckled a bit and walked over to her bed. I knelt by her and then paused, uncertain of how to wake her up. If I touched her, she'd probably kill me before she figured out what was going on. I settled on talking. "Ziva," I murmured. "Ziva, wake- "

Suddenly I was lying on her floor with a massive headache.

She had hit me with her gun and was kneeling on the bed aiming it at me. I thought about what a fantastic day I'd had. First I woke up sore, then I was viciously attacked by a demon and nearly killed. After that, thanks to my sister, I had made a miraculous recovery only to be struck by the butt of a gun and then threatened at gunpoint by the girl I love. On the whole, it was just a really fun day for Tony Dinozzo.

Ziva soon realized what was going on and lowered her gun. "Anthony Dinozzo," she said exasperatedly. "What the hell are you doing in my room?"

"Lying on your floor with a concussion, at the moment. But after I finish doing that I'd like to have a conversation."

"How did you even get in?"

"The window was open."

"You climbed up the wall of my apartment building?"

"Unfortunately."

"Huh," she said as she started pacing the room. "And you didn't simply come to the door and knock because…?"

"I didn't think you'd let me in."

"Good judgment, Tony. Visitors who appear at my door at three o'clock in the morning are usually told to go away." She paused and looked down at me. I was still rubbing my head where the gun had struck it. "Since you are already inside and I am already awake, you might as well stay."

"Aww, Ziva. I'm touched."

"You're extremely lucky that I didn't shoot you."

She walked into the hallway and out of sight. A few lights went on. "I'm making coffee if you want any," she called from the next room. "Get off your butt and go wash your face. There's some ice for your head in the kitchen."

I obediently went into the bathroom and scrubbed my face and hands. There was a decent sized lump already forming on the side of my head. After smoothing my hair and carefully checking my teeth I ventured into the kitchen. She had turned on the radio and put her hair up into a ponytail. The whole apartment was starting to smell like coffee. I hummed along to the music. She didn't turn away from the sink, where she was apparently washing a grapefruit. I leaned against a counter and waited. Finally she turned around.

"All right, Tony. Tell me what happened. Where have you been? How could you just disappear without any explanation? We've all been so worried about you."

Uh oh. My mind raced. Obviously I couldn't tell her the whole truth, as much as I hated feeling like a movie cliché of a hero who keeps secrets to protect the ones he loves. I've seen those movies and it never works out the way he wants it to. She would probably try to have me committed to a mental institution or at least treated for schizophrenia if I told her even half of the story. But I can't lie to Ziva. Not now.

The coffee machine saved me with a loud beep. Ziva grabbed two mugs and filled them without taking her eyes off me. She set down the mugs and grapefruit halves on the table, one on each side of the table. I grabbed some spoons from the drawer. She reached into a cabinet and produced a package of brown sugar. Then we sat down and faced each other.

"Why are you here, Tony?" she asked as she stirred her coffee.

"I needed to talk to you."

"You said that already, but you haven't been talking."

I took a sip. "Ok. The easiest way to say this is that I'm on the run. There's somebody out there who really wants me dead. I was safe for a while because what they did had caught up to them, but now I'm not anymore. I can't tell you who it is, but it's safe to say that being part of NCIS won't help me."

"How can you be sure of that?"

"They're more powerful than you can imagine. Honestly, they could get to me and kill me with no trouble at all. They've wanted to kill my whole family for a long time. So when I found out that they were free to come after me again… I didn't stop to explain myself, I just ran."

"I see," she said thoughtfully. I was sure she thought I was talking about the Mafia or something similar. I wish I was. She sprinkled sugar over her grapefruit half and started eating. I followed her example and there was silence for a while.

When we were just about finished I decided it was time to start talking again. There were only a few hours left until dawn. I still had so much to say. Deciding to start with the most important thing on my mind, I cleared my throat.

"Hey Ziva?"

"Yes Tony?"

"I love you."

**AN: There you go! It was a pretty long chapter so sorry for the wait. Did you really think I could kill Tony…that chapter? No of course not. Anyway hehe another cliffy! Please Review!**


End file.
